Day six- second clinic day

For Our second clinic day we were in the school in San Felipe. The little artist boy from yesterday, Freddy, came by and we all bought some of his drawings. I got a cute drawing of a fairy. They're all simple tracings but we want to encourage him; he seemed so proud! 

Later I met a boy named Joel who was so loving. He hugged all of us and just loved us talking to him and making him feel special. He was sitting at a table with the other kids coloring. When school is in session the kids eat lunch at that table. Huge rusty nails are sticking out all over the table and one of the boys said sometimes the kids scratch themselves on them. Sara and one of the other girls had rocks as hammers and were trying to flatten the nails out. I covered them with medical tape after to keep them covered. 

I spent the whole day assessing patients and taking their history. I got to work with Sara and she is SO good at catching things and observing things that I just don't think of. She's very quick and will be a great nurse. 

One of our patients was a hilarious old lady with awful arthritis. She has been taking prednisone for twelve years!!! The doctor forbade her from taking any more prednisone causes osteoporosis and she has already had one hip replacement an is waiting in the other. She has dislocated her shoulder three times. These are all from the prednisone. Unfortunately it is the only thing that she takes that relieve the stiffness enough that she can get out of bed in the morning. I felt so bad for her. The doctor prescribed her calcium supplements and naproxen. 

She also had hands straight from a textbook. She has boutannieres deformity, which is from arthritis. I identified it ;)

So I also discovered I'm not as good of a team player as I thought. I'm kind of competitive and I keep being in this mind set of wanting to impress and be the one who is always right. That's something I need to work on now. I think I like to show off a little as well. 

I did get taken down a notch when we had our suture class tonight. I thought I would be great at suturing because I like to sew. There was basically no crossover between sewing and suturing though. I struggled a lot and Dr Riverol is even left handed so it should have been easier for me. Leah took to it so easily, she definitely should have been a surgeon. She showed me how and then I used a horizontal mattress stitch to close up my "patient." 

Tomorrow we get to work in the hospital here. Apparently this is the first time for this so we aren't sure what will go on. I signed up for the AM shift in the mother-child unit. I'm wondering if I should have taken the Trauma and Emergency shift though. Too late to change now! I still always worry I'm terrible in pediatrics but its the place I've done best in as a nurse. 

Day five- more house visits

We had our second day of house visits and it went much faster we split into four groups and covered a lot of ground. Martin, our driver, accompanied us to translate. He had us focus on the houses that were poorer so the people who needed free medical care most get treated. 

We had more experience today so we made appointments quickly. Gloria and I both speak Spanish so we were able to help. 

This community was better off than the first one. There is a Mennonite community near by and they hire people from the village to work in the fields. If any of the villagers speak German they make more money because the Mennonites speak German. This village had more mestizo people while the last one had more Mayan or Indian. 

This little girl is named Daphne. She came right up to us on her bike and asked "como se llama?" She is so outgoing and sweet. We had a great conversation about her bike, dolls, and her school. Her sister has a doll that they put in the seat of her bike. She doesn't have a doll though. I wish I could have given her one. When I grew up I had at least 15 Barbies at one point. 

There is a woman in the village who makes amazing Mayan sweet buns. It was three for a Belizean dollar which is fifty US cents. She sent her children over with a tray of them and we bought them all! They are so good and hot from the oven. 

Later I went and spoke with her and she told us about how she sells buns to the village. On Saturday she makes tamales to sell but by then we will be elsewhere. 

Her husband is in the hospital today for an inguinal hernia. He hasn't been able to work for a couple months so she has been trying to make enough money to send the kids to school. She said it is about $400 Belizean dollars for the two kids. She has the kids sell her food in the village on their bikes on weekends and when they are out of school. 

One of the council members if the town runs a little shop in her house. She was so friendly. She is the one who is working with ISL. apparently she is the first woman elected to the town council ever! 

We had our lunch at the school. We also set up our clinic in several of the class rooms there. I also took the opportunity to draw on the chalkboard. 

Day four - Clinic day

First things first: it was so humid today. I have never sweat so much in my life. Imagine sitting in a steam room for eight hours surrounded by mosquitos while wearing scrubs. 

Secondly, I am having an unbelievable amount of fun! 

We took the bus to the village from yesterday. The doctors rode with us. Once we got there people were already waiting for us. We set up as fast as possible. 

I took the first patient. Working in the pediatric ER for my preceptorship prepared me so well for working with patients. We worked in groups of three and we stayed with our patient from beginning to end. We took turns presenting patients to the doctor and sat in on the assessments. 

These doctors spend a lot of time with each patient and talk a lot with them. In the US the doctors focus on the physical assessment and ask a couple questions before prescribing meds. 

The second half of the day Leah and I worked the pharmacy with Tracey's husband, Larry. I got to transcribe the doctors prescriptions (written on index cards) onto labels and count out pills into little bags. They prescribed a lot of ibuprofen and vitamins. Unfortunately we ran out of children's vitamins pretty quickly.

The people had to wait for so long. You would think they would be unhappy or impatient. But they were all so chill and helpful. When it started pouring rain in the afternoon the roof began leaking. The water went right down my neck. A bunch if guys immediately helped me move the "pharmacy". 

The council members were saying that try would have fixed the roof for us. They are all so friendly and sweet. 

I learned to explain medications to mis pacientes en español. I'm so excited to use my Spanish with my patients in the States. 

Day three- House visits

Our day was absolutely packed today! I can't even begin to type everything we did. I'm in bed after a very long day with an early morning tomorrow. 

Ill try to summarize before I pass out though. 

We took an hour bus ride out to August Pine Ridge neighborhood. We passed corn fields and sugar cane; the planting season has just begun. 

Once we arrive we split into groups of six and dispersed throughout the area. I got to speak to the first home. I surprised everyone and especially myself with my Spanish. I was able to talk with the first woman really well and get her signed up for an appointment mañana. 

The rest of the day consisted of going to each home and standing by the gate or the street and shouting hola! to announce ourselves. Our guide told us it isn't the culture to go up to someone's front door and knock. 

All the girls did so well talking with the people! Everyone was so nice an friendly. Almost every house had a few skinny dogs out front and some chickens. Many people had skinny brown horses grazing in the yards. 

At one point this very old woman invited all of my group into her house. She and her husband were in their hammock. He was blind and she told us stories en español. I took notes about her story of seventeen limes that she used to heal her husband. I will definitely write that up in a future post because its very interesting. 

I was able to have so many conversations with las niñas; I noticed many of the it's were timido. I noticed everyone had very clean clothes and worked to care for their homes. The houses don't look like much; many are ramshackle or made with sticks!  

I also bought a beautiful needlepoint pillow cover from a woman. She laughed because I bought it from her before she had even completed it! She was so flattered because we all bought her needle point work and kept blushing and laughing. 

Once we finished the home visits we spent an hour or two with a bush doctor in his home. His name is Mr Blanco and he learned his trade from his mother who learned from her mother. He took us around his yard and showed us like thirty different herbs and plants. I took pictures and notes for each plant and their names in Spanish and Mayan and English if possible. After the tour he sat us down on his porch and had us pass around a stick and we each took a bite of the bark and chewed it. Afterward he told is what it was for; it's quinine! And it tasted awful and bitter. 

After dinner we sat down in the hotel dining room. The doctor there gave us a presentation on triage and assessment. He is so young! And handsome lol. 

So tomorrow we run the clinic. We get an early start at 0800 after breakfast. So exciting! 

Day 2- Orientatipn

I lost my first post I wrote so this one is a little shorter. Forgive any typos please I'm typing this in bed. 

We all gathered in a classroom and had our orientation. They taught us some history of Belize before going in to how we will do our assessments. 

Tomorrow will be our first day the field. We will be taking the bus to a village an hour away. We will go to each house and assess sick people and give them an appointment for the following day. 

For lunch today we all piled into the bus and drive to this wonderful lady's house. Yessi has a little cafe in her yard. She was so sweet and loves to cool. I had a great conversation with her about cooking and got a recipe from her for chicken. 

Before I was getting in the shower tonight I was taking my hair out of my pigtails. I happened to glance in the mirror and froze- the biggest bug EVER was stuck in my braid. It was so scary! I used my washcloth to grab it out of hair. I managed all this without screaming so I consider it a success. 

Great, my eyes are closed in this pic. Oops. 

Check-In

Once we arrived at the airport we took an hour long bus ride to our hotel in Orange Walk. It's two stories and pink and adorable. I'm rooming with Leah! I even saw a little lizard near the ceiling before he ran off. 

We had our orientation with our amazing ISL guide, Denise. Afterward we got treated to some amazing homemade food. Fried plantains, rice and beans, and some fantastic chicken. All the Caribbean type food made me miss Miami! 

In Houston

Just landed in Houston! This airport is huge and they have so many little carts people drive. Next step is to find some food. :D 

So I got pretty anxious leading up to leaving Las Vegas. I met up with all the girls in the new terminal while Emilio parked the car and checked in at the old terminal. Then we met up at the escalators with a big kiss. 

He is going to spend time with his parents and is trying to fill in time while I'm away. 

I was up late last night putting the finishing touches on my study survey. I decided to go through with it and I'm pretty excited to see the results. I've already had an interesting conversation on the plane with one of the girls! 

Once we started flying my nervousness faded away and I finally started getting excited. 

Next time I update we will all be in Belize.